Monday, 19 July 2010

The French internal security services estimate that only 1,900 women in France wear the full-face veil – roughly 0.1 per cent of the adult, female, Muslim population. Supporters of the ban, on both the left and the right, say the burka is an affront to the principle of Liberté enshrined in the French constitution. Opponents – and the "sages" of the Conseil Constitutionnel – say the ban is itself an assault on individual liberty.

I tend to side with the latter group. Liberty, to my mind, includes the right to choose not to be free. If you ban the burqa, then you should also ban people from participating in sado-masochistic activities.

(incidentally, it includes a ban on covering your face in public, which presumably also means brides.